Weekly Tarot

January 23-29, 2023
Seven of Swords

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Socrates

Honestly, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was less than thrilled to pull this frequent visitor today. But it would be far worse if I was not completely honest with you. So here it is again, the cautionary, mixed-message Seven of Swords.

This is another of Pixie Smith’s “stage” cards, in that there is a horizontal line going across the width of the card, like a theatre stage. This hints that whatever is playing out before us is some kind of act, or that there is more going on than we (the audience) may know.

In the far left background, the soldiers of the camp are encircled around a fire. Who are they? What are they planning and who are they fighting?

Although the man in the foreground is clearly tiptoeing away with most of their weapons, we do not know who he is, or why he is stealing from them. Perhaps he is a spy or a deserter. Maybe he is a pacifist trying to prevent bloodshed.

As Tarot luminary Robert Place notes, “He is a thief, but the interpretation of his action depends on the nature of his motivation and the motivation of the army. Like numerous characters in plays, he may be a trickster hero. This card may be of dishonesty or of heroism.”

In any case, apparently this figure is doing something he knows he shouldn’t be doing, and is attempting to get away with it.

While I would hope he is acting with noble intentions, it is also true that the road to hell can be paved with those good intentions.

Forward At Last, But Carefully

After all the kerfuffle of the past few months’ retrogrades, the unfailingly brilliant Elisabeth Grace lists and explains a number of harmonious influences coming up this week. Thank you Jupiter and Venus especially.

We will finally, FINALLY sees some forward progress, since all of the planets are now direct. Perhaps that is reflected in the Seven of Swords’ sunny yellow sky.

But! Beware that any advancement needs to come from a place of personal integrity and honesty, lest you reap a painful result later. Watch your words, and be careful about the temptation to edit the whole truth.

Astrologer Lance Ferguson adds:

Uranus [ended] his Retrograde cycle on January 22. Better days are ahead with no Retrograde planets until mid-April. This is the only stretch of days in 2023 when all planets are in direct motion setting up stellar days to tackle top priority matters.

So if you are still in the process of looking backwards, reviewing and rehashing what was, this card agrees it’s time to turn around and look where you’re going, what you’re carrying, and how you are doing so.

An awakened consciousness is increasingly urgent as we make this transition of the age.

As Lorna Bevan tells us:

Leverage your progress by not expecting the future to look like the past. Clear away expectations and let yourself picture a wild new world. 2023 will be a crash course in mastering new tools and technologies but to survive, you have to apply them:

• build using the technology of the future, not of the past
• transition to being self-supporting + financially resourceful
• move from money as a survival tool to money as a creation tool
• base your decisions around your core values
• go with flow shifts in your identity, work, creations + home
• Realise that you cannot do the old things anymore, that the energy of everything really affects you in a different way than before. It’s not an emotional experience, it’s a: “that inspires me/ that depletes me; that contributes/ that takes; that’s open/ that’s closed; that’s resistant/ that’s flowing….”

Sounds like Swords all the way!

Who Goes There and Why?

This week, pay attention to the actors on your own personal stage. Who, in the events that involve you at this time, has real integrity, and who is play-acting? Is someone attempting to take what they have not fairly earned, or what rightly belongs to someone else?

Be scrupulous that someone is not you, even if you think (like the man in the card) it might be justified. Take Socrates’ quote to heart. Easy words, but not always so easy to follow. Make it a point to this week.

This may also be a warning about our own unwillingness to scrutinize someone or something that does not possess the honor we would have hoped. In my experience, it is often the most true-hearted that are the least willing to realize they may have overestimated the trustworthiness of another.

For as the thief believes everybody steals, good people have a hard time believing in the nefarious motives of others.

While confrontation is rarely fun, consider if there could be someone showing you a false persona. What glamour spell may they have cast, which deceives and deflects the real truth? What unsavory energy has been allowed to enter your camp?

What half-truths are floating around? Is there a traitor in your midst? Who or what might be about to steal off with your valuable idea, project, or reputation?

And what are they leaving intact, in order to have an excuse or cover their tracks?

What can we do about such situations? Should we defy this behavior, or do we just wait and hope they will trip themselves up?  When people (including politicians) continue to get away with unethical behavior, where will they stop?

At least keep asking yourself — what is being shown to you; what is kept hidden? Have the courage to seek the real truth in the dramas you are facing.

If you or those you care about are in doubt or in danger, it may well fall to you to sound the alarm: “Halt! Who goes there?” and “Why?”

Honor is all.